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Monthly Archives: August 2016

Edmund Mark is quite the little man. Matthew and I love him dearly. Yes, we get less sleep and have a significant rise in dirty diapers since he was born, but he is so precious and quite the serious soul already. All the family has come to see and adore him. The Grandparents are especially happy for their first grandchild. Carolyn has been esspecially good about documenting his first moments and days of life. At the hospital we had many visitors and when we were finally released, we had more at our home. It was wonderful to be surrounded by such loving people who wanted to share these moments with us.

Mom came and stayed with Matthew, Edmund and I for the first couple weeks. She was a wonderful blessing. She even canned me some peaches when she was here. I am quite well stocked now for the winter! Horray!

Edmund thus far has been eating well. He quickly gained his birthweight back and now is quite the big guy. He resists sleep quite frequently (as did his father, I am told) and so he and I spend a lot of awake time together. His eyes are such a beautiful blue at this moment. His hair is a white blond. This being the case, you can’t see hair on his head or his eye brows.

Though he looks a lot like his Father, he wakes up like me. (When he does finally sleep). This means that it takes a good ten minutes of stretching and trying to not get up for as long as possible. Good thing he doesn’t have a day job…and I don’t as well. He loves to stretch and lay on my chest, looking around. His head and neck are pretty strong and have been from birth. I shall never forget little Edmund being seconds old being set on my chest for the first time. His head didn’t even touch my chest at first because he was raising it and using his arms to push off.

It became very clear that he loves using his strong back muscles. He arches his back, folding in half regularly, and has even rolled over a couple of times. He just arches his back and pushed off with his legs and arms and *juup* his is over. Mom Aden tells me this is exactly just like his Daddy so I guess its not to uncommon. I’m just happy that he is growing well and becoming a study little boy. What more can a mama ask?

I certainly was waiting for this time with baited breath. Actually, to be completely honest and truthful, I did a horrible job of waiting. A week before Edmund’s due date I was trying to do everything possible to get the little Sir out on time or sooner. Carolyn, my sister, was over almost every day helping me walk, walk, walk. I bounced on a ball, I pumped till I was sore, and even tried primrose oil and the like. (I never did try Caster Oil and I’m glad of this). However, Sir Edmund stood firm. He would not come out until he was good and ready. I guess he was good and ready on Monday 8/8/16.

I went into labor at 10:30 pm after walking, pumping and bouncing on my blue bouncy ball. (This was, of course, a week later than my actual due date). Things got hard pretty quickly and I was going to the hospital at 4:00am the next morning because my contractions were so close together. I labored at the hospital for 14 or so more hours before finally, after slowly progressing and the bag of waters not breaking on it’s own, the midwife broke the bag with a crochet hook looking utensil. Once it was broken, I felt a whole new level of pain. (I didn’t have an epidural because I am so afraid of needles and I was sure they would do it incorrectly. My friend in England had to have several before it worked and my mother got massive headaches because they punctured the spine. NO THANK YOU!) I had horrible back labor all through, so my Doula, Paula, stood on one side and Matthew stood on the other, pushing my pelvis in so it wouldn’t feel like my back was splitting apart.

When it came to push, I was completely done. I just wanted to sleep and the pain to stop. I was so anxious to get Edmund out that I pushed as hard as I could with the contractions. (I felt the urge to push). This stressed him out and his heart rate dropped. I had to drop on my back and push him out on my side. I forgot to breath so they made me take an oxygen mask because Edmund was not getting enough. When he finally came, I birthed his head and arm/elbow at the same time. They thought that this awkward position was why it was so hard of a labor. But after that, it was easy-peasy. They stitched me up, and got my into another room for recovery.

For me, I didn’t feel much much pain after delivery. (Or it didn’t feel like that much after being in horrible pain for 17 hours). I focused on the fact that I had just made it through and had my little boy. There really is no greater joy. I now understand why woman put themselves through the awful torture that is labor. Of course, I DON’T understand why people have two kids after they know what happens with the first one. (And I know people with 10 kids).

But that is the story. Was it painful? Yup. Was it worth it? Of course. Would I do it again? That still remains to be seen.

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Pooh Bear

Winnie-the-Pooh Ch. 8

"Oh! Piglet," said Pooh excitedly, we're going on an Expotition, all of us, with things to eat. To discover something."
"To discover what?" said Piglet anxiously.
"Oh! just something."
"Nothing fierce?"
"Christopher Robin didn't say anything about fierce. He just said it had an 'x'."